The invention relates to a laminated map with a geographical definition of the locality, e.g. a country map, street map, road map or city map.
Known maps are of various designs, the predominant design being those where the map sheet is made of paper or card of appropriate dimension, mostly of rectangular shape. Such maps wear comparatively quickly. For said reason, maps are known where the paper/card sheet is coated, enclosed in a film or mostly lined/laminated on both sides. With said known maps the map sheet is, for example, first provided with shorter or longer narrow slits in the fold lines, then laminated and subsequently folded by hand. On the other hand, there are individual constructions, where continuous map sheets are manually lined/laminated and then foldedxe2x80x94mostly, in a not very orderly fashion. None of said known laminated maps may be mechanically folded.
It is an object of the present invention is to provide a construction for a laminated map obviating the above-mentioned drawbacks.
It is a further object of the invention to provide map constructions which permit orderly mechanical machine folding of the laminated map sheet.
It is a further object of the invention to provide map constructions which allow for easy shelving and still recognition of the content of the map,
In general, this invention provides a map which is easy to manufacture including its folding on a machine and needs no additional manual finishing.
To achieve these and related objects the present invention provides two constructions of a map, such as a country map, street map, city map or otherwise a printed map sheet.
A first and a second embodiment of the invention includes a map comprising a printed map sheet made of paper sheet having fanfold lines extending in one direction of the map sheet and at least one cross fold line (rectangular fold line) extending perpendicular to the direction of the fanfold lines and further having transparent plastic films applied as a laminate or lining on the front and on the reverse side of the map sheet.
In the first form of construction, it is provided according to the invention that the fold lines of the fanfold are predefined by embossed grooves in the map sheet and that an elongate opening 2-20 mm in width is formed in the region of axe2x80x94preferably centralxe2x80x94cross fold of the map sheet extending perpendicular to the fold lines of the fanfold of the map sheet, which elongate opening is overlapped by the plastic films, and that at a narrow side of said elongate opening in extension of the latter a web of the same width as the opening is left, which is imprintable with a map title and which is delimited on either side by an embossed groove, the printed image of the map being interrupted in the region between the two embossed grooves and the elongate opening. The map may alternatively have one or more further cross folds parallel to the previously described cross fold.
In the other form of construction, it is provided according to the invention that the fold lines of the fanfold are predefined by means of grooves embossed in the plastic films, and that in the region of axe2x80x94preferably centralxe2x80x94cross fold of the map two grooves are embossed in the plastic films 2 to 20 mm apart, along which grooves the map is folded perpendicular to the fold lines of the fanfold, and that a map spine is formed in the region between said two outer map surfaces, the spine formed in the map sheet being imprintable with a map title.
The plastic films applied as a laminate are advantageously PET films (polyethylene terephthalate film) suitable for hot lamination but may alternatively be OPP films (oriented polypropylene film) for cold lamination. Other known laminating films may be considered.
The invention therefore provides on the one hand means of predefining the folding, which allow mechanical folding, and on the other hand means of providing an imprintable spine, which produce in the finished map in the region of the cross fold a narrow map spine, on which an indication of the map contents may be provided. The map is moreover also easily foldable here. Said narrow map spine in the region of the cross fold is of paramount importance for the sale of the map because almost all maps are sold positioned vertically in slipcases, drawers or boxes and so only the narrow map spine remains visible. The invention moreover provides that the map is printed on a paper sheet, which has a weight of at least 100 g/m2, and is folded at the one fold direction into a plurality of fanfolds and at the other fold direction into one or more cross folds. Without special means a paper sheet of said paper grammage, which is lined on both sides with a plastic film, need no longer be mechanically folded using any of the common folding methods. It is therefore provided that the printed map sheet or paper sheet has the two features peculiar to the invention.
a) Construction Having an Elongate Opening and Twin-groove in the Region of the Cross Fold
In the region of the cross fold or better xe2x80x9ctwin-foldxe2x80x9d, the map has an elongate opening in the printed image. There, the printed paper sheet prior to lining/laminating is grooved, punched and broken out to expose the opening. The arrangement of grooves is peculiar to the invention. A single groove is provided in the region of each fold line of the fanfold and two spaced-apart grooves are provided in the region of the, preferably central, cross fold web. This enables subsequent mechanical folding of the map. In said manner, there arises between the adjacent fold lines of the cross fold an elongate opening, which is spanned by the plastic film laminated onto both sides. The opening between said fold lines is provided in such a way that, when the map is completely folded, there arises in the region of the cross fold in the outermost layer the narrow paper spine or map spine, which is at least 2 mm and at most 20 mm wide. The folded edges lying underneath are situated in the region of the opening and comprise plastic film laminated onto both sides. The opening has in said case a width of at least 2 mm and at most 20 mm. Mostly, at least one and up to 12 fold lines are provided for the fanfold.
b) Construction Having a Twin-groove in the Region of the Cross Fold
The map has a continuous printed image. The printed paper sheet after having been lined/laminated is provided in the region of the cross fold with two grooves spaced 2 to 20 mm apart by embossing the plastic film. This allows subsequent mechanical folding of said map. What is special here is that in the region of the cross fold as a result of the spaced-apart grooves, the so-called twin-groove, a stable narrow spine at least 2 mm and at most 20 mm in width arises in the completely folded map. The map mostly has at least 1 and up to 12 fold lines forming the fanfold.